Thousands of medium and heavy duty work trucks are rented to individuals each year by companies such as U-Haul® and others. These trucks are used by renters for short and long haul moving, local hauling, and other purposes. One common truck model used by these companies is the Ford® E Series® truck, platform, to which various trailer configurations may be mounted.
Truck rental companies have for some time endured a problem with the air conditioning and air handling systems (hereinafter referred to simply as the air conditioning system or AC system) of their truck cabs. More specifically, the interior it air inlets of these systems, which draw in air in the recirculate mode of the system, are located near the floorboard of the cab. When individuals use trucks they have rented for moving, they tend to drop a significant amount of debris into the floorboard. This debris can include, for example, food, paper, hair from pets carried in the cab, dust, and other items. Such debris tends to be drawn into the recirculate inlet near the floorboard of the cab and become stuck on the AC evaporator coil and other components within the system. As a result, the evaporator coil and other components relatively quickly begin to clog with debris. FIG. 1 illustrates the appearance of an actual evaporator coil from a Ford® E Series® rental truck cab after having become clogged with debris. This clogging, in turn, significantly shortens the life cycle of air conditioning coils and components, which must be replaced a more frequent basis. Replacement of evaporator coils in its rental trucks is an expensive and unwanted repair for truck rental companies.
A need therefore exists for an apparatus and method for preventing debris from entering the air conditioning systems of rental trucks and other medium and heavy duty trucks. It is to the provision of such a method and apparatus that the present invention is primarily directed.